YouTube To Allow Creation of 6-Second GIFs Directly From Videos

Have you ever sat down and thought to yourself, "Self, what the Internet really needs are more animated GIFs!" Probably not, but brace yourself for a deluge of GIFs in the coming months anyway as YouTube rolls out a new feature that will make it easy to create them from videos that have been uploaded to the service.

We're not being curmudgeons here, we just know what's around the bend, and that's a lot more GIFs. Hopefully this will result in some hilarious captures, and if you're planning to participate but need video fodder, be sure to check out HotHardware's YouTube channel.

The feature is currently being tested on PBS Idea Channel's YouTube page, and the way it works is rather easy. If you head over there and fire up a video, you'll find a new GIF option when you click the Share button.

When you click on the GIF option, an interface pops up with an expanded video reel and trim controls. Just drag the trim selectors to the portion of the video you want to make a GIF with -- they can up to 6 seconds long -- and add top and bottom text in the designated fields. When you're satisfied, click "Create GIF" and you're finished.

The built-in GIF maker doesn't appear to be on any other YouTube channels, though don't be surprised if it shows up on more pages soon. One thing that will be interesting to watch out for is whether it's an automatic embed or if owners of YouTube channels will have the option of turning it off.